This recipe is a variation on a Ketoprak I’ve made earlier based on a recipe by Kokkie Slomo (Dutch). I still used his sauce as a base, but used a different method. I also added more vegetables, that might not be that traditional in this dish.
Normally this dish has cubes of golden pan fried tofu. I didn’t have any and I’m not sure whether it still qualifies as a Ketoprak. You could add tofu if you want. In that case, cut it into cubes and fry until golden brown in a bit of flavorless oil.
- The sauce:
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 large shallot or half a medium onion
- 1 ts sambal ulek
- ½ ts Indonesian fermented shrimp paste / trassi
- ½ Tbs gula djawa / dark palm sugar
- Juice of half a lime
- 2 ts chunky peanut butter
- ½ cup ketjap manis (sweet ketjap)
- 4 Tbs flavorless oil
- Rest of the dish:
- 5 broccolini stems
- 2 green onions
- 100 gram bean spouts
- ½ cucumber
- 50 gram carrot, julienne
- 100 gram white cabbage, shredded
- Hand full of fresh celery leaves
- French fried onions
- 2 hardboiled eggs
- Optional: cubes of golden pan fried tofu
Normally the base for the sauce is ground in a pestle and mortar, I conveniently used my chopper. The end result is still delicious.
Finely grind the shallot, garlic, sambal and shrimp paste.
In a small skillet (large enough for a fried egg) heat up the oil and fry the ground onion garlic paste for about 2 minutes until fragrant.
Add gula djawa and let it melt through. Add the ketjap and remove from the heat. The ketjap shouldn’t boil.
Add the peanut butter and juice of half a lime. You can prepare the sauce in advance and slowly reheat before completing the dish.
The vegetables
Blanch the broccolini for about 5 minutes until tender. I use part of the cooking liquid to pour over the bean sprouts. Rince them in cold water immediately. Drain well.
Boil the eggs and slice into segments. Cut the green onion into rings. Peel the cucumber, remove the seeds and cut into slices. Cut the carrots and the white cabbage. Finely chop the celery leaves.
To build the dish, start with the broccolini, white cabbage, carrots, bean sprouts, cucumber, celery, eggs, the reheated sauce and finish with the fried onions. Serve with some steamed rice.
This is sooo good! The cruncy vegetables, fresh celery, the deep flavor of the sauce. You really need to try this.
Because of the shrimp paste, this isn’t a vegetarian dish. I wouldn’t know what to replace it with, because it’s the paste that gives the sauce it’s distinct flavor.
Edit: Dutch vegetarian website Vegatopia advised me to use taotjo (bean sauce, yuánchi jiàng) instead of the shrimp paste. I don’t have any experience with taotjo, but I fully trust them on this.
Instead of white cabbage, you could use lettuce, napa cabbage or endive. Blanched green beans would also work well. Use the sauce, fried onions, bean sprouts and celery as a base and your options are endless.
